Erin Bomboy focuses on the performative and generative aspects of dance. Types of dance reviewed include ballet, modern, contemporary, world, and experimental forms.

Friday, September 28, 2012

DELIRIOUS Dances' To Begin The World Over Again: Your Participation Is Required

DELIRIOUS Dances performs To Begin The World Over Again. Photo by
Julie Lemberger.

Does this contentious
election season have you down? Are you frustrated by the endless partisan
bickering and political mud slinging?

Edisa Weeks, artistic
director and choreographer of DELIRIOUS Dances, has the antidote. Her lively
new piece—To Begin The World Over Again,
in residence at Brooklyn’s Irondale Center through October 6th—investigates
the musings of Thomas Paine and his vigorous promotion for freedom and
democracy.

The piece opens with a
bribe. Acting as the ringleader, Michael Henry, sporting the iconic red tie of
a politician, exchanges fortune cookies for assurances that your cell phone is
off. Nestled in the treats lies a scrap of paper featuring a quote by Thomas
Paine. Democracy tastes sweet.

Choreographically, Weeks
keeps it simple. She opts for straightforward movements—lots of running,
gazelle leaps, log rolls, and loping patterns—from a standard modern dance
vocabulary. To Begin The World All
Over Again unfolds in sections, some featuring the dancers, others
highlighting the music, with occasional forays into literal demonstrations of
democracy at work. In one instance, Henry, charmingly strident, rounds up
the performers for a dance-off. You vote with your applause for the dancer’s
performance that best represents your values. By the slimmest of margins,
victory goes to Sharifa Linton for her generous smile and gripping solo.

The six dancers,
loose-limbed and liberated movers, sometimes forgo technique for spirit. But
this freedom from physical restraints only underscores the dancers’
performance, which is enthralling. They commit fervently; when they leap and
fling their bodies to the floor, it’s executed with a blind trust that is
deeply affecting.

Democracy requires
participation, so when the dancers invite you out to the performance space, don’t balk. The audience and the cast dance, stroll hand-in-hand, and even
strut their way through a soul train line. Hokey? Perhaps. Fun? Definitely! In
the finale everyone performs an American Sign Language version of “We Have It
In Our Power”; it’s impossible not to be moved.

To
Begin The World All Over Again is a call to action. Weeks’ earnest insistence on
community, participation, and cooperation stands as a timely reminder that
democracy requires a variety of voices to succeed. More importantly, it
needs your voice. So get inspired. Get involved. And go see To Begin The World All Over Again.

This
review refers to the Thursday, September 27th performance.

******Coinciding with the performances of To
Begin The World Over Again, are a series of FREE community events coordinated